JEAN DE FLORETTE (1986)

What's that biblical warning against coveting your neighbor's stuff? This week at Ciné-Club, we're taking a look at another period drama about a well-cultivated, one-sided rivalry, this time set against the impossibly bucolic background of the French countryside. Join us as we soak up the sun (and quite a bit of shade) with Claude Berri's classic tale of soil and sabotage...

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JEAN DE FLORETTE (1986)
Dir. by Claude Berri
Available to rent on Amazon Prime, and AppleTV. Also streaming on Kanopy and the Criterion Channel.

City slickers ruin everything. Having just returned home from military service to his small town in the south of France, the simple-minded Ugolin is giddy to announce to his uncle Césare that he's hatched a fool-proof get-rich quick scheme. He's brought back a few clippings of easily cultivated carnations and a quick trip to the market soon proves that dedicating a whole plot to these bad boys will result in some serious profit. After Césare unscrupulously secures some neighboring land for their venture, everything seems set for fields of flowers and easy income. But it turns out the land that Césare had all-but secured is due to be inherited by a family of happy-go-lucky city folk, who are overjoyed at the opportunity to move to the countryside and roll up their sleeves. While Ugo and Césare initially assume it's only a matter of time before these hoity-toity urbanites get a reality check and cede their land back to the market, they seem to be doing pretty well for themselves. And what's worse - they're way too damn nice about it all.

A fascinating moral tale full of jealousy, false kindness, and absolutely edenic locales, Jean de Florette stages the familiar conflict between city and country in a slew of surprising (and at times, delightfully melodramatic) ways. Who are you rooting for? Let's talk about it!

*As a reminder, this is solely a movie discussion group - we encourage you to watch the film independently prior to coming to the meetings.